* 


remote 


V*~*-+ 


NOTE:  Write  me  what  you  think  of  the  problem.  The 
Commision  needs  your  suggestion.  This  means  you. 

S.  A.  LINDSEY,  Chairman, 

Tyler,  Texas. 

Our  Rural  Life  and  Farm  Problems 

An  Address  by 

S.  A.  LINDSEY, 

Chairman  Texas  Farm  Life  Commission 

Delivered  before  the  Third  Annual  Farmers’  Short  Winter  Course. 

A.  &  M.  College,  Jan.  8,  1913. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

The  Texas  Farm  Life  Commission  is  a  branch  of  the 
Texas  Commercial  Secretaries  and  Business  Men’s  Asso¬ 
ciation,  which  proposes  to  devote  its  especial  attention  to 
farm  life  conditions  in  this  State.  The  appointment  of  the 
Texas  Farm  Life  Commission  is  a  natural  sequence.  It 
grew  out  of  the  study  which  the  Welfare  Commission 
made  of  economic  and  industrial  conditions  in  this  State. 
The  Commission  was  created  because  there  is  work  for  it 
to  do  in  Texas.  It  is  not  proposed  to  usurp  the  field  of 
any  other  agencies,  nor  lessen  their  activities,  but  it  is 
hoped  rather  to  co-ordinate  all  agencies  and  stimulate 
activities. 

EXTENT  OF  THE  FARM  LIFE  PROBLEM. 

The  farm  life  problem  in  Texas  is  the  Country  Life 
movement  of  the  Nation  applied  to  the  open  country.  It 
is  in  no  sense  a  class  problem.  It  is  a  city  problem  as 
well  as  a  country  problem,  state,  nation  and  world-wide. 
Dr.  L.  H.  Bailey,  Dean  of  the  Agricultural  College  of 
Cornell  University,  defines  the  Country  Life  movement 
to  be: 

“The  working  out  of  the  desire  to  make  rural 
civilization  as  effective  and  satisfying  as  other 
civilizations;  to  make  country  life  as  satisfying  as 
city  life  and  country  forces  as  effective  as  city 
forces.” 

Science,  inventions  and  discoveries  are  influencing  the 
business  and  social  problems  of  the  world;  the  people  of 
the  cities  by  organized  cooperation  are  re-directing  their 
business  methods  and  social  life  in  ways  that  gain  to 
themselves  excellent  profits  and  the  blessings  of  modern 
civilization.  The  rural  country  must  do  likewise  or  suffer 
decadence. 


(o  \"o 


♦ 

t 

f 

t 

t 

t 

t 

f 

I 

i 

♦ 

i 

i 

i 

l 

l 

t 

i 

♦ 

t 

t 

t 

j 

i 

♦ 

t 

i 

t 

t 

t 

l 

9 

t 

t 

f 

f 

t 


No  city  is  self-sustaining;  they  draw  food,  clothing  and 
raw  materials  from  the  country.  Diminish  the  supply  of 
these  and  the  cities  suffer.  The  cities  also  draw  much  of 
their  population  from  the  country.  Hitherto  the  ablest 
men  and  women  of  the  cities  have  come  from  the  country. 
These  have  been  the  cities’  best  asset.  Let  the  country 
decay,  its  people  will  continue  to  flock  to  the  cities,  but 
instead  of  being  an  asset  they  will  become  a  liability. 

As  has  been  said,  “The  country  life  problem  is  new  to 
those  only  who  have  just  discovered  it.’ 

Washington  was  the  father  of  the  movement  in  this 
country.  He,  in  connection  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  in 
1785,  organized  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Promo¬ 
tion  of  Agriculture,  and  he  made  the  promotion  of  agri¬ 
culture  the  subject  of  his  last  message  to  Congress.  This 
Society  is  the  oldest  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States  and 
is  still  one  of  the  most  active.  A  Rural  Life  Conference 
for  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  was  held  under  its  auspices 
March  last,  which  was  attended  by  leading  people  from  all 
over  the  United  States  and  by  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  the 
great  Irish  reformer,  who,  Dr.  Warren  H.  Wilson,  Super¬ 
intendent  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  U.  S.  A.,  says,  has  done  more  than  all  the  home 
rulers  to  free  Ireland  from  her  poverty  and  banish  the 
beggar  from  the  Irish  highway  by  the  same  methods 
that  we  must  follow  here. 

Nothing  appears  to  have  been  done  by  Congress  in  re¬ 
sponse  to  President  Washington’s  message.  Land  was 
abundant,  cheap  and  fertile,  yielding  surplus  crops  under 
the  unscientific  methods  of  its  tillers.  Two  things  re¬ 
sulted:  the  Nation  was  supplied  with  cheap  food  and 
clothing,  and  farmers  gave  little  thought  to  science  in 
their  business  or  to  soil  conservation.  After  the  Civil 
War,  the  railroads  having,  penetrated  the  great  West, 
farmers  pushed  out  over  the  prairies  of  the  Middle  West 
and  Southwest  and,  from  1870  to  1900,  they  mined  the 
fertility  out  of  the  rich  soil  of  these  sections  and  con¬ 
tinued  to  feed  the  Nation  at  prices  so  cheap  as  to  utterly 
impoverish  themselves.  No  soil  is  so  rich  that  it  cannot 
be  exhausted.  By  and  by,  the  yields  became  less  and  the 
demands  greater,  as  population  increased.  In  about  1900, 
consumption  caught  up  with  production.  Then  complaints 
of  high  cost  of  living  became  more  or  less  general  and 
reached  the  ears  of  the  Government.  A  bureau  was  added 
to  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  men  were  sent  out 
to  teach  scientific  methods  of  farming,  soil  building  and 
conservation.  They  found  the  task  a  difficult  one.  Low 
prices,  long  hours  of  toil  and  hard  times  had  depressed 
and  discouraged  the  farmers  and  neglect  had  rendered 


4 


1 

{ 

9 

I 

f 

I 

f 

I 

l 

l 

l 

i 

i 

i 

f 

i 

1 

i 

f 

t 

f 

l 

J 

l 

t 

9 

\ 

9 

t 

I 

9 

l 

i 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

9 

<< 

t 

9 

♦ 

•+ 


■> 


( 


+■' 

* 


♦ 

t 

t 

♦ 

♦ 

(*/  i 

♦ 

f 

f 

♦ 

\ 

t 

I 


«h 

G*  i 

yt 
■-  i 

i 

.0? 

— *  • 

—  ♦ 

~Q  * 


£ 


t 

J 

* 


I 


i 

4 


them  suspicious  of  proffers  of  assistance.  Their  high¬ 
ways,  schools  and  churches  showed  neglect  and  the  com¬ 
munity  spirit  was  lacking. 

THE  ROOSEVELT  COMMISSION. 

These  conditions  were  brought  to  the  attention  of  Presi¬ 
dent  Roosevelt,  who  undertook  to  lend  a  hand.  He  ap¬ 
pointed  five  men  of  high  character  and  learning,  of  great 
patriotism  and  interest  in  rural  life  conditions,  as  a  Coun¬ 
try  Life  Commission.  These  were  Dean  L.  H.  Bailey,  of 
Cornell;  Dean  K.  L.  Butterfield,  of  Amherst;  Mr.  Henry 
Wallace,  of  Wallace’s  Farmer,  Iowa;  Mr.  Walter  Page,  of 
The  World’s  Work,  and  Mr.  Gifford  Pinchot,  of  the  Bu¬ 
reau  of  Forestry. 

The  Commission  conducted  a  thorough  investigation, 
holding  thirty  meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  Nation,  and 
receiving  over  120,000  written  dissertations  from  country 
people  and  workers  for  the  betterment  of  country  life.  The 
Commission  set  forth  the  results  of  its  labors  in  an  ex¬ 
haustive  report  which  was  transmitted  to  Congress  by  the 
President,  with  an  illuminating  message.  Congress  seems 
to  have  been  unfriendly  and  this  report,  a  most  valuable 
document,  was  not  printed  for  public  distribution.  I  wish 
to  quote  two  paragraphs  from  the  message  of  transmittal 
and  one  from  the  report; 

“The  farmers  have  hitherto  had  less  than  their 
full  share  of  public  attention  along  the  lines  of 
business  and  social  life.  There  is  too  much 
belief  among  all  our  people  that  the  prizes  of  life 
lie  away  from  the  farms.  I  am,  therefore,  anxious 
to  bring  before  the  people  of  the  United  States 
the  question  of  securing  better  business  and  better 
living  on  the  farm,  whether  by  cooperation  among 
the  farmers  for  buying,  selling  and  borrowing;  by 
promoting  social  advantages  and  opportunities  in 
the  country,  or  by  any  other  legitimate  means  that 
will  help  to  make  country  life  more  gainful,  more 
attractive,  and  fuller  of  opportunities,  pleasures 
and  rewards  for  the  men,  women  and  children  of 
the  farms.” 

“The  farm  grows  the  raw  material  for  the  food 
and  clothing  of  all  our  citizens;  it  supports  directly 
almost  half  of  them;  and  nearly  half  of  the  children 
of  the  United  States  are  born  and  brought  up  on 
the  farms.  How  can  the  fife  of  the  farm  family  be 
made  less  solitary,  fuller  of  opportunity,  freer  from 
drudgery,  more  comfortable,  happier  and  more 
attractive?  Such  a  result  is  most  earnestly  to  be 


f 

f 

* 


\ 


\ 

t 

♦ 


♦ 

t 

\ 

\ 

\ 

i 

t 

\ 

\ 


t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

I 


♦ 

'•4* 


desired.  How  can  life  on  the  farm  be  kept  on  the 
highest  level,  and  where  it  is  not  already  cn  that 
level,  be  so  improved,  dignified  and  brightened 
as  to  awaken  and  keep  alive  the  pride  and  loyalty 
of  the  farmer’s  boys  and  girls,  of  the  farmer’s  wife 
and  of  the  farmer  himself?  How  can  a  compelling 
desire  to  live  on  the  farm  be  aroused  in  the  chil¬ 
dren  that  are  born  on  the  farm?  All  these  ques¬ 
tions  are  of  vital  importance,  not  only  to  the 
farmer,  but  to  the  whole  Nation.” — Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

‘‘We  must  picture  to  ourselves  a  new  rural 
social  structure,  developed  from  the  strong  resi¬ 
dent  forces  of  the  open  country;  and  then  we 
must  set  at  work  all  the  agencies  that  will  tend 
to  bring  this  about.  The  entire  people  need  to  be 
aroused  to  this  avenue  of  usefulness.  Most  of  the 
new  leaders  must  be  farmers  who  can  find  not  only 
a  satisfactory  business  career  on  the  farm,  but  who 
will  throw  themselves  into  the  service  of  upbuild¬ 
ing  the  community.  A  new  race  of  teachers  is 
also  to  appear  in  the  country.  A  new  rural  clergy 
is  to  be  trained.  These  leaders  will  see  the  great 
underlying  problem  of  country  b'fe,  and  together 
they  will  work,  each  in  his  own  field,  for  the  one 
goal  of  a  new  and  permanent  rural  civilization. 
Upon  the  development  of  this  distinctively  rural 
civilization  rests  ultimately  our  ability,  by  methods 
of  farming  requiring  the  highest  intelligence,  to 
continue  to  feed  and  clothe  the  hungry  nations;  to 
supply  the  city  and  metropolis  with  fresh  blood, 
clean  bodies  and  clear  brains  that  can  endure  the 
strain  of  moderen  urban  life;  and  to  preserve  a 
race  of  men  in  the  open  country  that,  in  the  future 
as  in  the  past,  will  be  the  stay  and  strength  of  the 
Nation  in  time  of  war  and  controlling  spirit  in 
time  of  peace.” 

The  Commission  suggested  a  broad  campaign  of  pub¬ 
licity  cn  the  whole  subject  of  rural  life,  until  there  is  an 
awakened  appreciation  of  the  necessity  of  giving  this  phase 
of  our  national  development  as  much  attention  as  has 
been  given  to  other  interests.  They  urge  the  conserving 
of  soil  fertility,  the  necesity  for  diversifying  farming;  the 
need  for  better  rural  society  is  suggested;  the  better  safe¬ 
guarding  of  the  strength  and  happiness  of  farm  women; 
a  more  widespread  conviction  of  the  necessity  for  organi¬ 
zation  for  both  economic  and  social  purposes,  such  organi¬ 
zation  to  be  cooperative,  and  the  farmer  is  reminded  that 


4 

4 

o 

♦ 

© 

4 

♦ 

4 

a 

4 

o 

♦ 

4 

4 

4 

f 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

f 

a 

4 


4 

♦ 

4 

9 

t 

4 

• 

4 

i 

4 

• 

4 

4 

4 

i 

• 

4 

f 

4 


he  has  a  distinctive  natural  responsibility  toward  the  farm 
laborer  in  providing  him  with  good  living  facilities  and  in 
helping  him  to  be  a  man  among  men. 

The  Country  Life  Commission  made  the  following  spe¬ 
cific  recommendations  to  Congress: 

The  encouragement  of  a  system  of  thorough-going  sur¬ 
veys  of  all  agricultural  regions  in  order  to  take  stock  and 
to  collect  local  facts,  with  the  idea  of  providing  a  basis  on 
which  to  develop  a  scientifically  and  economically  sound 
country  life. 

A  system  of  extension  work  in  rural  communities 
through  all  land-grant  colleges  with  the  people  at  their 
homes  and  on  their  farms. 

A  thorough-going  investigation  by  experts  of  the  middle¬ 
man  system  of  handling  farm  products,  coupled  with  a 
general  inquiry  into  the  farmer’s  disadvantages  in  respect 
to  taxation,  transportation  rates,  cooperative  organizations 
and  credit,  and  the  general  business  system. 

An  inquiry  into  the  control  and  use  of  the  streams  of 
the  country  with  the  object  of  protecting  the  people  and 
their  rights  therein. 

The  establishing  of  a  highway  engineering  service  to  be 
at  the  call  of  the  States  in  working  out  effective  and  eco¬ 
nomical  highway  system. 

The  establishment  of  a  system  of  parcels  post  and  pos¬ 
tal  savings  banks. 

The  enlargement  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Edu¬ 
cation,  to  enable  it  to  stimulate  and  coordinate  the  edu¬ 
cational  work  of  the  Nation. 

Providing  such  regulations  as  will  enable  the  States 
that  do  not  permit  the  sale  of  liquors  to  protect  them¬ 
selves  from  traffic  from  adjoining  States. 

It  was  John  Wanamaker  who  said  that  there  were 
just  four  arguments  against  the  establishment  of  the  par¬ 
cels  post,  and  these  were  the  four  principal  express  com¬ 
panies  of  the  Nation.  To  these  four  arguments  against 
the  publishing  of  the  report  of  the  Country  Life  Com¬ 
mission  might  be  added  certain  middle-men  organizations, 
the  whiskey  trust  and  those  banking  institutions  which 
opposed  the  postal  savings  banks. 

THE  FARMERS’  PROBLEM  DIFFICULT. 

But  it  may  be  that  Congress  thought  that  farmers 
should  solve  their  own  problems  the  same  as  city  people 
are  required  to  do.  Farmers,  unassisted,  cannot  do  it,  and 
there  is  a  reason.  Their  occupation,  habits  and  environ¬ 
ments,  essentially  differing  from  those  of  city  people,  stand 
in  the  way.  As  a  class  they  have  little  surplus  above  bare 


O* 


♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

I 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

f 

* 

♦ 

♦ 

f 

♦ 

* 

9 

f 

} 

♦ 

♦ 

f 

O 

f 

1 

: 

t 

t 

l 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

t 

♦ 

t 

o 

♦ 

o 

♦ 

I 


subsistence;  they  live  remote  and  their  work  keeps  them 
apart  from  their  neighbors,  all  cf  which  render  organiza¬ 
tion  and  cooperation,  without  which  they  can  never  solve 
their  problems,  most  difficult. 

Rural  conditions  in  Texas  in  many  respects  are  not  so 
bad  as  they  are  in  some  States  where  factories  and  large 
cities  have  drawn  heavily  on  the  population  and,  by  the 
Grace  cf  God,  we  do  not  intend  that  they  shall  become 
so.  When  I  say  “we”  I  mean  the  press,  the  schools,  col- 


leges,  the  universities,  the  teachers,  country  preachers, 
Christian  men  and  women,  and  I  must  add,  the  railroads, 
the  local  commercial  organizations  of  cities,  our  State  Edu¬ 
cational  and  Agricultural  Departments  and  our  health  offi¬ 
cers,  all  of  whom  are  willing  and  ready  to  help. 

The  Texas  Farm  Life  Commission  is  in  no  sense  a  back- 
to-the-soil  association — the  need  is  better  farmers  rather 
than  more  farmers.  If  we  shall  make  farming  profitable 
by  science  in  production  and  business  methods  of  market¬ 
ing,  revive  the  community  spirit,  consolidate  rural  schools 
and  supply  them  with  efficient  teachers,  so  that  the  children 
of  farmers  shall  have  educational  advantages  equal  to  those 
of  the  cities,  and  improve  reads,  so  that  the  children  can 
be  conveyed  to  these  schools  as  they  are  in  Ohio,  Iowa, 
Indiana,  South  Carolina,  Louisiana  and  many  other  States, 
and  so  that  the  farmer  can  convey  his  products  to  the 
markets,  visit  his  neighbor,  attend  his  church  and  com¬ 
munity  meetings,  the  farmer  boys  and  girls  now  living  in 
the  country  will  remain  upon  the  farms  and  be  successful 
and  prosperous. 


DANGER  OF  PEASANTRY. 

The  Country  Life  movement  has  become  acute  in  this 
Nation;  it  is  claiming  the  attention  of  the  sociologists,  the 
educators  and  the  workers  for  moral  uplift  everywhere. 
Dr.  L.  H.  Bailey  enumerates  forty  agencies  of  organized 
forces  making  for  a  better  rural  life.  All  agree  that  unless 
we  can  succeed  in  making  country  life  as  satisfying  as  city 
life,  ambitious  people  will  not  remain  in  the  country  and 
our  rural  population  wil  surely  become  a  Nation  of 
peasants. 

The  average  proportion  of  tenants  to  farm  owners  of  all 
the  States  is  37%.  Thinking  people  and  students  of  condi¬ 
tions  are  alarmed  at  so  great  proportion  of  tenants  on 
farms.  Let  us  see  how  it  is  in  Texas.  I  take  these  figures 
from  the  Agricultural  Bulletin  for  Texas,  13th  Census  of 
the  United  States: 


♦ 

♦ 

t 

t 

i 

t 

t 

t 

? 

i 

♦ 

I 

I 

t 

J 

l 

m 

t 


l 

* 


8 


«•*'•**  •••  ♦  •••  ♦  .©• 


♦ 

t 

t 

\ 

i 

* 

t 

♦ 

i 

♦ 

l 

t 

t 

t 

t 

* 


1880.  1890.  1900.  1910. 

Farms  operated  by 


^  owners .  108,716  132,616  177,190  195,863 

Farms  operated  by 

tenants .  65,468  95,510  174,991  219,575 


These  figures  show  that  in  the  last  thirty  years  the  pro¬ 
portion  of  tenants  in  Texas  has  increased  from  37.6  per 
cent,  of  all  farmers,  in  1880,  to  52.6  per  cent,  in  1910.  In 
these  thirty  years,  farm  owners  have  increased  at  the  rate 
of  a  little  less  than  3,000  a  year,  while  tenants  have  in¬ 
creased  at  the  rate  of  a  little  over  5,000  per  year. 

The  tenant,  having  no  interest  in  the  soil  and  his  tenure 
being  from  year  to  year,  does  not  conserve  fertility  of 
lands,  build  schools  or  roads,  and  Dr.  Wilson  says  he  sets 
the  social  status  of  his  community.  It  is  the  tenant  and 
not  the  man  who  retards  the  community  spirit.  Let  him 
become  a  land  owner  and  he  may  become  a  community 
builder. 


f 

♦ 

♦ 

9 

t 

i 

t 

t 

t 

t 

♦ 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

♦ 

O 

+ 


A  GREATER  DANGER. 

I  wish  to  point  to  another  danger,  which  I  consider  is 
equally  as  undesirable  as  that  of  rural  peasantry,  and 
which  seems  to  me  more  likely  to  occur;  great  agricul¬ 
tural  corporations  are  likely  to  enter  the  field  of  farm¬ 
ing.  Col.  Yoakum  notes  that  it  costs  the  farmers  seven 
billion  dollars  to  market  six  billion  dollars  of  the  1911 
farm  products.  If  corporations  had  produced  this  output 
they  would  have  marketed  it  for  about  half  of  seven  billion 
dollars,  saving  at  least  three  billion  dollars  marketing 
expense  to  themselves.  This  would  add  50%  to  present 
prices  received  by  farmers  for  their  products.  At  such 
prices  there  is  but  one  field  of  investments  yielding  better 
returns  upon  capital  than  would  farming  under  corporate 
methods.  The  record  at  Washington  of  revenues  for  cor¬ 
poration  earnings  reveals  that  incorporated  financial  insti¬ 
tutions  and  insurance  companies  had  a  net  revenue  in 
1911  of  15.84%  on  capital  invested;  incorporated  mercantile 
concerns,  10.13%;  public  service  organizations,  4.17%,  and 
manufacturing  concerns,  4.80%.  All  the  capital  of  the 
country  cannot  find  investment  in  financial  institutions  and 
insurance  companies,  and  a  farming  corporation  would  fur¬ 
nish  its  own  hands  with  merchandise,  which  business 
offers  the  next  largest  returns  upon  capital.  A  great 
farming  enterprise  conducted  by  a  corporation  would 
operate  its  own  gins,  compresses,  cotton  oil  mills  and  can¬ 
ning  plans.  It  would  operate  on  4  and  5  per  cent,  money, 
where  farmers  pay  10  per  cent.  There  is  no  class  of  labor 


9 


O*  •• 


♦ 

♦ 

I 

\ 

♦ 

} 

J 

; 

; 

♦ 

t 

{ 

t 

l 

l 

I 

i 

i 

} 

l 

i 

l 

f 

\ 

♦ 

f 

♦ 

? 

t 

f 

♦ 

t 

t 

t 

f 

I 

♦ 


O  •••  O  •••  4-.i 


so  cheap  as  farm  labor.  Then,  too,  there  are  men  of  ac¬ 
complishment  and  training  available  to  take  the  superin¬ 
tendency  of  such  farms.  Young  men  from  the  cities  as 
well  as  from  the  country  are  attending  our  A.  &  M. 
Colleges.  The  Massachusetts  State  College  reports  50% 
of  its  students  from  cities;  the  College  of  Agriculture  of 
the  University  of  Illinois  reports  45%  from  cities;  the 
Agricultural  College  of  Missouri  reports  33%  from  cities, 
and  the  New  York  State  College  of  Agriculture  reports 
57%  of  its  students  from  cities  of  5,000,  and  over,  and  51% 
from  cities  of  10,000  and  upward. 

The  present  methods  of  production  and  marketing  farm 
products  are  wasteful  and  inefficient.  In  every  other  field 
where  there  is  so  much  waste,  corporate  efficiency  has 
taken  possession  and  is  coining  that  waste  into  gold.  Under 
the  present  conditions  and  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  only 
thing  that  will  prevent  great  corporations  from  entering 
the  agricultural  fields  of  industry  is  for  the  farmers  to 
combine  and  eliminate  all  waste  from  both  the  method  of 
production  and  of  marketing.  Farming  by  corporations 
would  bring  more  evils  to  our  Nation  than  would  farming 
by  pea^ntry,  because,  in  such  event,  rural  people  will  be¬ 
come  mere  farm  laborers  and  share  tenants  executing  the 
plans  of  the  foreman.  This  condition  would  bring  the  con¬ 
test  between  socialistic  and  capitalistic  theories  face  to  face 
in  final  conflict. 

While  I  have  merely  touched  upon  the  extent  and  im¬ 
portance  of  the  Country  Life  movement,  surely  I  have  gone 
far  enough  to  make  plain  the  wisdom  and  foresight  that 
impelled  the  President  of  the  Texas  Commercial  Secre¬ 
taries  and  Business  Men’s  Association  to  recommend  the 
appointment  cf  a  Texas  Farm  Life  Commission.  The 
most  obtuse  will  understand  why  the  membership  of  that 
Association  unanimously  adopted  the  recommendation  of 
its  President,  and  why  such  far-seeing  men  as  the  execu¬ 
tive  committee  of  the  Farmers  Educational  and  Co-opera¬ 
tive  Union  of  the  State  should  have  so  readily  joined  in 
the  movement,  and  why  the  American  Bankers’  Associa¬ 
tion,  the  railroad  companies,  the  local  commercial  clubs 
of  the  cities  of  the  State,  the  Federated  Women’s  Clubs, 
as  well  as  patriotic  men  and  women  of  every  calling,  edu¬ 
cators  and  the  press  of  the  State  are  ready  and  willing  to 
assist  in  the  solution  of  this  greatest  of  all  problems  con¬ 
fronting  the  people  of  Texas  today. 

If  we  are  to  save  the  rural  districts  of  Texas  from  de¬ 
cadence  we  must  bring  about  conditions  in  the  country 
that  will  make  country  life  as  satisfying  as  is  life  in  the 
city.  We  must  give  to  the  people  who  live  on  the  farm 
the  same  educational  advantages  for  their  children  as  those 


10 


♦ 

f 

♦ 

3 

* 

6 

t 

o 

t 

«> 

t 

o 

t 

o 

t 

t 

t 

♦ 

♦ 

t 

t 

t 

♦ 

t 

♦ 

t 

T 

t 

f 

{ 

t 

f 

t 

i 

o 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

1 

♦ 

9 

\ 

♦ 

* 


> 


« 


* 


■y  m  #  •»  ♦  ■■ 


* 


i 

l 


of  cities  enjoy.  I  have  not  the  figures  for  the  State,  but  in 
the  entire  United  States  there  is  $12.00  per  annum  spent 
for  education  of  the  rural  child  against  $30.00  per  annum 
for  the  education  of  the  city  child.  We  must  also  give  to 
the  country  people,  or  they  must  make  for  themselves, 
good  thoroughfares,  and  there  must  be  created  and  fos¬ 
tered  the  community  spirit  until  a  better  civilization  is 
attained. 


~#-+ 


A  SURPLUS  IS  NEEDED. 

Right  here  I  want  to  give  you  Sir  Horace  Plunkett’s 
definition  of  civilization: 

“Civilization  as  we  understand  it  in  this  coun¬ 
try,  implies  a  certain  standard  of  luxury  and  com¬ 
fort.  Further,  that  this  comfort  and  luxury  in¬ 
volves  a  surplus  over  and  above  the  mere  means 
of  subsistence.  A  scheme  of  civilization  involves, 
to  my  mind,  a  clearly  thought-out  plan  for  making 
and  maintaining  and  for  using  that  surplus.” 

The  city  has  its  surplus  and  a  clearly  thought-out  plan 
for  making,  maintaining  and  using  such  surplus;  the  rural 
country  has  not,  and  this  makes  the  difference  between 
city  and  rural  civilization. 

It  follows  that  the  surplus  is  the  first  thing  to  bring  into 
existence,  as  there  will  be  no  clearly  thought-out  plans  for 
using  such  surplus  until  a  surplus  is  in  sight,  hence,  if  we 
are  to  have  better  educational  facilities,  better  roads  and 
better  social  spirit  in  the  country,  we  must  along  with  such 
aspiration,  if  not  in  advance  of  it,  pursue  methods  that  will 
create  a  surplus  above  mere  subsistence. 

A  SURPLUS  IS  IN  SIGHT. 

With  the  great  work  that  is  being  done  by  the  A.  &  M. 
College,  our  Experimental  Stations,  the  Agricultural  De¬ 
partment  of  the  State,  the  Department  of  Agriculture  of 
the  Nation,  the  Texas  branch  of  which  is  in  the  hands  of 
that  able  and  capable  worker,  Dr.  W.  P.  Proctor,  the 
Texas  Industrial  Congress,  headed  by  that  great  patriot, 
Col.  Henry  Exall,  all  which  is  finding  responses  from 
many  industrious  farmers  and  farmer  boys  in  Texas,  a 
surplus  is  coming  into  sight. 

I  am  warranted  in  saying  that  unless  we  improve  our 
methods  of  marketing  farm  products,  whatever  surplus  the 
farmers  may  grow  will  add  little  to  the  luxuries  and  com¬ 
forts  of  the  farmers.  We  had  in  Texas  the  last  year  a 
good  peach  and  truck  crop,  but  whatever  surplus  there 


f 


♦ 


11 


t 

l 


was  rotted  upon  the  ground.  The  prices  to  the  consumer 
were  maintained  so  high  that  only  the  rich  could  afford  to 
purchase  while  the  producers  got  less  for  the  products 
than  if  there  had  been  short  crops.  The  cause  is  patent — 
business  is  organized  while  farmers  are  not,  hence  the  only 
competition  there  was  in  the  disposition  of  those  crops 
was  among  the  farmers  themselves  and  that  in  the  matter 
of  selling. 

SCOPE  OF  THE  COMMISSION’S  WORK. 

The  scope  of  the  Commission’s  field  is  indicated  by  the 
five  subjects  selected  and  assigned  to  five  sub-committees. 
These  are: 

The  Production  and  Marketing  of  Farm  Products — J.  T. 
S.  Gant,  Archer  City,  Chairman. 

Rural  Credits — Edwin  Chamberlain,  San  Antonio,  Chair¬ 
man. 

Transportation — E.  W.  Kirkpatrick,  McKinney,  Chair¬ 
man. 

Rural  Homes  and  Schools — Mrs.  E.  P.  Turner,  Dallas, 
Chairman. 

Coordination  and  Cooperation — S.  A.  Lindsey,  Tyler, 
Chairman. 

The  production  as  well  as  marketing  of  farm  products 
will  be  considered  together,  because  they  are  closely 
related.  Prices  are  governed  by  the  quantity  and  quality 
produced  and  the  method  of  marketing.  Take  the  product, 
cotton,  for  example:  The  value  and  price  of  cotton  can  be 
increased  by  seed  selection,  fertilizing  and  by  cultivation, 
ginning  and  wrapping,  at  least  five  cents  per  pound;  and  by 
gradual  marketing  at  least  two  cents  a  pound.  Now,  if 
we  add,  say  five  cents  a  pound  to  cotton  values  by  such 
methods,  we  shall  enrich  this  State  and  take  nothing  from 
the  consumer  because  we  shall  give  value  for  what  we  re¬ 
ceive. 


t 

J 

t 

\ 

* 

t 

t 

f 

t 

t 

i 

t 

t 

♦ 


t 

♦ 

t 

t 

© 

* 

? 

© 

♦ 

t 


FARMERS’  UNION. 

Col.  Peter  Radford,  President  of  the  Farmers’  Edu¬ 
cational  and  Co-operative  Union,  explained  to  the  Welfare 
Commission  at  its  session  in  San  Antonio  last  year  the 
Union’s  plan  for  marketing  cotton. ..  They  were  so  busi¬ 
ness-like,  so  logical  and  reasonable  as  to  win  the  admiration 
of  those  who  composed  the  Welfare  Commission  for  the 
wisdom  and  foresight  of  the  Farmers’  Union.  All  who 
are  not  acquainted  with  the  plans,  purposes  and  teach¬ 
ings  of  this  great  organization  of  farmers  will  do  well  to 


♦ 

f 


J 


-♦ 


12 


♦ 


♦ 


t 


acquaint  themselves  with  them.  This  is  an  agricultural 
State.  The  prosperity  of  every  business  rests  upon  the 
prosperity  of  the  farmers  of  Texas,  hence  it  should  be 
and  is  the  great  concern  of  the  wisest  of  our  business  men, 
as  well  as  farmers,  that  the  farms  of  the  State  should 
produce  the  greatest  crops  possible  and  bring  their  owners 
the  best  prices  obtainable. 

COOPERATION  NECESSARY. 

I  state  deliberately  that  the  farmers  of  Texas  will  never 
be  prosperous  until  they  adopt  cooperative  methods  in 
the  marketing  of  their  products.  I  am  warranted  in  saying 
this  by  the  conditions  which  surround  the  farmer.  I  am 
also  warranted  in  saying  this  by  the  experience  of  every 
Nation  under  the  sun  which  has  grappled  with  and  solved 
this  problem.  Upon  this  subject  I  wish  to  quote  the 
words  of  Sir  Horace  Plunkett  while  speaking  to  the  Rural 
Life  Conference  for  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  held  at 
Philadelphia  in  March  last  year.  Sir  Horace  said: 

“I  think  the  ultimate  analysis  will  show  that  of 
all  the  causes  to  which  the  high  cost  of  living  is  to 
be  attributed,  the  chief  cause  is  that  the  farmer 
has  failed  to  apply  new  business  methods  both  to 
production  and  distribution,  and  that  he  leaves  dis¬ 
tribution  in  the  hands  of  multitudinous  middle¬ 
men,  unnecessarily  costly,  and  often  the  middle 
interests  victimize  both  the  producer  and  the  con¬ 
sumer. 

“I  am  not  talking  about  the  railroad  com¬ 
panies.  So  far  as  my  experience  has  gone,  at  any 
rate  in  this  country,  there  is  nothing  to  be  said 
against  the  railroad  companies.  They  are  eager  to 
give  accommodations  to  you  and  they  will  give 
accommodations  to  farmers  provided  the  farmers 
will  do  as  farmers  on  the  Continent  of  Europe 
have  been  forced  to  do,  combine  together  and 
consign  their  produce  regularly,  in  bulk,  of  uni¬ 
form  quality.  So  far  as  railways  participate  in  dis¬ 
tribution  they  can  get  it  done  more  cheaply  than 
in  any  country  in  the  world,  that  is,  anywhere 
except  where  the  railroads  are  owned  by  the 
State.  The  whole  trouble  is  that  the  farmers 
don't  work  together;  they  waste  energy. 

“The  contribution  that  I  wish  to  make  to  your 
discussion  today  is  simply  this:  We  have  found 
in  Ireland,  and  my  studies  in  many  other  countries 
have  convinced  me,  that  the  thing  to  begin  with 


* 
* 

i 
\ 
♦ 

I 
♦ 

\ 


i 

1 

♦ 

t 

{ 

t 

t 

t 

t 

f 

f 

t 

♦ 

f 

* 

t 

♦ 

f 

t 

t 

t 

I 


t 

♦ 


13 


t 

4 

4 

♦ 

4 

t 

ft 

4 

t 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

\ 

o 

4 

4 

t 

4 

4 


f 

4 

4 

i 

t 

4 

♦ 

4 

© 

♦ 

o 

t 

o 

* 


and  the  essential  thing  to  do,  neglect  of  which  bars 
all  progress,  is  the  reorganization  of  the  farmers’ 
business.  The  great  change  that  the  farmers  have 
got  to  make  in  their  business  methods  is  simply 
this:  They  have  got  to  introduce  methods  of  com¬ 
bination  in  their  business  and  work  together.” 

The  Farm  Life  Commission,  recognizing  the  advantages 
of  cooperation  to  the  business,  educational  and  farming 
interest  in  every  county,  will  undertake  to  secure  the  ap¬ 
pointment  of  a  kind  of  Local  Welfare  Commission  in  each 
county  of  the  State,  composed  of  one  banker,  the  County 
School  Superintendent,  the  President  of  the  County 
Farmers’  Union,  the  local  Government  Cooperative  Agent 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  local  commercial  organization. 
Such  a  commission  or  committee  can  encourage  county 
fairs,  educational  rallies,  good  roads  movements,  farmers’ 
meetings  or  institutes  and  in  many  other  ways  co-operate 
for  the  advancement  of  the  community’s  best  interest. 

I  do  not  believe  that  Dr.  G.  Walker  Fiske  has  stated  it 
too  strongly  when  he  said  that  the  test  of  modern  civiliza¬ 
tion  is  the  capacity  to  cooperate. 

RURAL  CREDITS. 

Rural  Credits  is  important  to  the  farmer.  There  are  by 
the  13th  census,  417,770  farms  in  Texas,  the  average  size 
of  which  is  269.1  acres.  It  is  reasonable  to  average  one 
farmer  to  the  farm.  It  is  estimated  that  the  annual  in¬ 
debtedness  of  each  farmer  is  $500.00.  This  would  be  about 
$210, COO, 000  for  all  Texas  farmers.  The  average  rate  of 
interest  paid  by  Texas  farmers  is,  I  am  sure,  10  per  cent., 
or  $21,000,000  annually.  The  European  farmer  gets  money 
at  3^4  to  4^  per  cent,  interest  by  systems  of  rural  banks — 
and  these  are  based  upon  cooperation.  If  Texas  farmers 
can  secure  5  per  cent,  money  they  will  save  $11,000,000 
annually.  In  ten  years  they  would  have  saved  over  $100,- 
000,000 — enough  to  build  all  the  roads  and  erect  all  the 
school  houses  needed  in  this  State  and  add  something  to 
that  surplus  necessary  to  secure  the  conveniences  and 
luxuries  of  modern  civilization. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

Another  committee  is  that  on  transportation.  The  trans¬ 
portation  problem  directly  affects  the  farmer  and  the 
farmer’s  family,  economically  and  socially.  It  begins  with 
the  road  leading  from  his  door  to  his  school,  his  church, 
his  mill,  his  gin,  his  postoffice  and  his  market. 


♦ 


4 

l 


♦ 


f 

4 

4 

• 

4 

ft 

4 

ft 

4 

ft 

4 

ft 

♦ 

ft 

4 

f 

ft 

t 

t 

ft 

f 

ft 

f 

ft 

t 

t 

ft 

f 

ft 

f 

4 

ft 

} 

ft 

f 

t 

ft 

f 

ft 

f 

ft 

i 

ft 

4 


14 


> 


h  * 


t 

t 

t 

\ 

t 

t 

t 

t 

$ 

f 

t 

$ 

o 

t 

t 

i 

t 

t 

t 

t 

$ 

t 

© 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

o 

t 

t 


t 

9 

f 

f 

+- 


•  ♦  •••  «-•••  ♦  •©•♦•©>  9-*0*  ♦  •©• 


Bad  roads  are  a  tax,  and  a  fearful  limitation  upon  the 
business  and  social  life  of  country  people.  Bad  roads 
make  three  miles  equal  to  ten,  and  require  three  hours 
of  man  and  team  where  one  should  suffice.  Good  farming, 
good  schools,  good  churches  and  good  social  conditions  do 
not  lie  along  bad  country  roads. 

The  farmer  is  also  interested  in  steam  and  interurban 
railroads  and  their  charges  for  transportation.  It  is  up  to 
him  to  do  some  investigation  and  thinking  along  these 
lines.  He  should  know  his  rights  and  best  interest  and 
guard  them  intelligently. 

This  sub-committee  is  headed  by  a  capable  farmer  and 
will  go  deeply  into  the  problem  of  transportation  as  it 
affects  farm  life. 

RURAL  HOMES  AND  SCHOOLS. 

Another  committee  is  that  on  Rural  Homes  and  Schools. 
Volumes  have  been  written  and  volumes  can  yet  be  written 
upon  this  inexhaustible  subject.  The  world  is  large  and  its 
wonders  are  many.  One  may  travel  from  childhood  to  old 
age  and  see  something  new,  wonderful  and  fascinatingly 
interesting  every  day.  There  are  many  interesting  people 
in  the  world,  but  the  little  place  we  call  home  holds  that 
which  is  of  more  interest  to  each  of  us  than  all  the  world, 
and  all  the  people  of  the  world,  beside.  The  home  in¬ 
terests  and  affects  not  only  those  who  occupy  it,  but  the 
community  also.  The  influence  of  the  home  is  reflected 
through  its  members  upon  tne  community.  Society  has  an' 
interest  in  the  education  and  health  of  each  of  its  mem¬ 
bers.  The  home  is  an  important  factor  in  both  of  these 
matters. 

The  rural  homes  and  the  rural  schools  shape  the  eternal 
destiny  of  rural  boys  and  girls.  If  it  be  true,  as  Mr.  Bur¬ 
bank  says,  that  “a  child  absorbs  environment;  that  it  is 
the  most  susceptible  thing  in  the  world  to  influence,  and 
if  that  force  be  applied  rightly  and  constantly  when  the 
child  is  in  its  most  receptive  condition,  the  effect  will  be 
pronounced,  immediate  and  permanent.”  Then,  to  begin 
with,  rural  schools  need  better  grounds  and  better  build¬ 
ings. 

If,  as  Dean  Curtis  of  the  Iowa  College  of  Agriculture 
says,  “The  country  school  problem  is  the  most  important 
educational  problem  that  has  confronted  the  American 
people  since  the  organization  of  the  land-grant  colleges,” 
then  we  need  longer  school  terms  and  more  interested, 
capable  and  experienced  teachers  for  our  rural  schools. 

If,  as  stated  by  Dr.  T.  F.  Hunt,  Dean  of  the  College  of 
Agriculture  of  Pennsylvania,  “If  this  Nation  is  to  hold  its 


15 


f 

6 

t 

t 

t 

c 

t 

t 

t 

i 

t 

t 


«» 

t 

t 

t 

i 


t  \ 


i 

4 


+• 

t 

k 


intellectual  and  industrial  place  among  the  Nations  of  the 
world  vocational  training  must  be  provided  for  boys  and 
girls  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  the  age  of  citizen¬ 
ship,”  then  we  need  the  rural  industrial  high  school  teach¬ 
ing  agriculture  as  a  science,  manual  training  and  domestic 
science,  in  every  county. 

The  three  first  subjects  for  our  sub-committees  relate  to 
the  business  of  farming;  that  is,  the  creation  and  main¬ 
tenance  of  that  surplus  requisite  for  modern  civilization. 
The  fourth  relates  to  the  spending  of  that  surplus  as  well 
as  maintaining  it. 

The  fifth  sub-committee  will  undertake  to  make  a  survey 
of  the  whole  field,  take  an  inventory  of  agencies  at  work 
and  those  available  for  the  work  of  rural  development, 
bring  them  together  for  council  to  the  end  that  the  several 
agencies  may  coordinate  their  respective  works  and  co¬ 
operate  therein. 

FARMERS  THE  BEST  LEADERS. 

The  farmers  of  Texas  are  in  need  of  personal  leader¬ 
ship.  They  have  political  leaders,  but  they  need  local  in¬ 
dustrial,  community  and  educational  leaders.  Such  leaders, 
if  their  leadership  is  to  be  effective,  must  be  local  and  at¬ 
tached  to  the  soil.  The  Farm  Life  Commission  recognizes 
that  we  have  all  the  agencies  necessary  to  bring  about  re¬ 
direction  of  farm  methods  and  farm  life  and  the  re-estab¬ 
lishing  of  the  community  spirit,  if  only  these  agencies  will 
do  the  things  that  are  practical  and  sequential.  We  must 
not  expect  to  bring  about  redirection  merely  by  conven¬ 
tions  and  exhortations.  The  work  will  be  effective  only 
insofar  as  we  shall  discover  local  leaders,  impart  to  them 
the  vision  of  the  new  civilization  of  the  future  and  induce 
the  men  of  the  soil  and  those  of  the  city  to  unite  in  the 
work  of  bringing  about  such  new  civilization. 

THE  NEW  CIVILIZATION. 

That  the  civilization  of  the  future  will  differ  from  the 
civilization  of  the  past,  is  the  thought  of  some  of  our 
most  profound  thinkers.  It  will  not  be  the  civilization  of 
the  city  nor  the  civilization  of  the  country,  but  it  will  be 
that  resulting  from  the  interaction  of  one  upon  the  other 
producing  a  stronger,  freer  and  richer  civilization  than  the 
world  has  yet  known.  It  will  be  stronger  because  di¬ 
rected  by  the  cooperative  spirit;  freer,  because  devoid  of 
class  prejudice,  and  richer  because  of  the  general  enjoy¬ 
ment  of  modern  comforts  and  conveniences,  the  better 


-♦ 

i 

f 

\ 

I 


+ 


t 

t 

♦ 

-♦ 


16 


diffusion  cf  education  and  learning,  the  broader  brother¬ 
hood  of  men  and  the  universal  equality  of  opportunities. 

WHAT  OUR  AGENCIES  CAN  ACCOMPLISH. 

I  will  mention  only  six  of  the  active  agencies  in  Texas 
which  can  and  should  render  all  the  assistance  necessary 
to  develop  in  every  rural  community  the  necessary  leader¬ 
ship  to  unify  the  community  in  problems  of  farm  life. 
These  are  our  educational  forces,  the  government  agricul¬ 
tural  forces,  the  local  commercial  organizations  of  cities, 
the  health  officers  of  the  country,  the  country  clergy  and 
the  press  of  the  State.  Mark  you,  I  say,  “Assist,”  for  the 
real  work  must  be  done  by  the  farmers  themselves,  work¬ 
ing  through  themselves  and  the  comunity  agencies  di¬ 
rectly  under  their  control. 

EDUCATIONAL  FORCES. 

Our  educational  forces  consist  of  the  State  University, 
the  A.  &  M.  College,  our  Normal  Institutes  and  the  public 
school  system.  These  are  teaching  agriculture,  mechanics, 
manual  training  and  domestic  science,  to  a  limited  number. 
Our  public  school  system  has  its  State  Superintendent, 
County  Superintendents,  teachers  for  every  school  and  a 
Beard  of  School  Trustees  in  every  community.  Let  these 
catch  the  spirit  and  vision  of  rural  life,  its  needs,  and  poten¬ 
tial  richness,  and  impart  that  to  one  another  until  all  are 
of  one  mind  and  purpose;  let  them  work  upon  the  patrons 
and  non-patrons  of  their  respective  schools  until  they,  too, 
shall  catch  the  spirit  and  vision  of  fuller  and  richer  life. 
Let  the  local  teacher  be  a  veritable  missionary  for  educa¬ 
tion  not  only  of  school  children,  but  of  the  people  of  their 
respective  communities^also.  Let  them  realize  what  edu¬ 
cation  really  is,  its  advantages  and  value,  bring  this  to  the 
attention  of  the  farmers;  make  them  understand  that  edu¬ 
cation  that  is  worth  while,  like  anything  else,  costs  money 
and  requires  devotion  and  time;  that  it  pays  in  exact  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  amount  invested  in  it;  that  the  best  place 
to  educate  their  children  is  at  home,  and  that  it  is  a  duty 
as  well  as  a  privilege  to  build  and  maintain  a  school  of  the 
best  type  right  in  their  own  community;  that  good  build¬ 
ings  and  grounds  are  necessary  to  good  education;  that 
the  best  type  of  education  is  vocational,  that  it  interests 
the  child  and  enables  it  to  learn  book  lessons  more  read¬ 
ily;  impress  them  with  the  advantages  of  consolidating 
small  schools,  not  only  to  the  child  in  attendance  but  to 
the  community,  because  it  secures  better  teachers  and 


+ 

t 

t 

♦ 

♦ 

i 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

f 

f 

♦ 

f 

*> 

♦ 

t 

f 

* 

i 

♦ 

t 

o 

t 

* 

o 

♦ 

t 

© 

t 

o 

t 

t 

t 

$ 

o 

+ 

9 

i 

t 

« 

? 

6 

t 

o 

♦ 


enables  them  to  reside  permanently  and  make  their  com¬ 
munity  and  educational  work  continuous.  Let  earnest 
teachers  hammer  these  matters  until  a  convert  is  secured; 
recruit  and  use  him  from  the  moment  of  conversion. 
Others  will  fall  in  line  and  we  shall  not  only  gain  ground 
throughout  the  country,  but  hold  it  when  gained. 

AN  EXAMPLE. 

In  the  little  State  of  Maryland  there  is  an  industrial 
high  school  in  every  county.  These  have  their  corps  of 
teachers  and  through  extension  work  administer  to  all  the 
county.  They  organize  boys’  corn  clubs,  girls’  canning, 
cooking  and  sewing  clubs.  They  hold  farmers’  short 
terms  twice  a  year,  which  are  attended  by  large  numbers 
of  farmers  to  hear  the  lectures.  They  give  summer 
courses  of  instruction  in  the  teaching  of  agriculture, 
manual  training  and  domestic  science  to  the  rural  school 
teachers,  and  organize  community  movements  for  a  better 
social  spirit.  These  high  schools  are  to  the  county  what 
the  A.  M.  College  is  to  the  State,  only  their  field  being 
smaller  their  work  is  correspondingly  more  effective. 
These  schools  use  their  advanced  boys  in  the  organization 
of  boys’  corn  clubs,  because  they  have  found  that  a  suc¬ 
cessful  boy  corn  grower  can  enlist  more  boys  and  better 
interest  in  the  work  than  can  men. 

GOVERNMENT  AGENCIES. 

Under  the  head  of  Government  Agricultural  Agencies, 
I  include  the  State  and  National  Departments  of  Agricul¬ 
ture,  their  several  bureaus  and  departments. 

In  every  county  of  Texas  where  the  National  Govern¬ 
ment  has  not  a  farm  demonstration  agent,  the  State  De¬ 
partment  of  Agriculture  should  place  one.  This  will  not 
require  much  money.  If  the  Legislature  will  not  furnish 
it,  raise  the  means  otherwise.  Self  help  is  the  best  help. 
The  State  Superintendent  of  Agriculture  should  be  suf¬ 
ficiently  determined  and  tactful  to  do  as  the  National 
Government  is  doing,  supply  the  men  and  induce  com¬ 
missioners’  courts  and  commercial  organizations  to  pay 
the  salaries.  If  he  will  do  this  for  a  year  or  two,  the  Leg¬ 
islature  will  get  orders  from  home  to  furnish  necessary 
funds. 

These  local  demonstration  farm  agents  should  be 
under,  attached  to  and  a  part  of  the  County  High  School, 
where  there  is  one,  and  where  there  is  not,  they  should 
work  in  close  touch  with  the  County  School  Superinten¬ 
dent. 


18 


♦ 

f 

♦ 

$ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

f 

f 

i 

t 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

f 

♦ 

♦ 

i 

f 

f 

* 

♦ 

♦ 

f 

t 

6 

♦ 

t 

} 

♦ 

♦ 

t 


It  will  not  be  long,  I  hope,  until  the  people  will  elect 
no  one  trustee,  teacher  or  County  Superintendent,  except 
upon  qualification.  The  success  of  the  candidate  for  any 
office  whose  only  qualification  for  the  position  he  seeks 
is  that  he  is  a  good  mixer  or  campaigner  is  made  possible 
only  by  the  indifference  of  the  people  to  the  importance 
of  the  position  he  seeks  to  fill. 

WHAT  COMMERCIAL  ORGANIZATIONS  CAN 

DO. 

The  next  agency  available  is  the  commercial  organiza¬ 
tions  of  cities.  These  can,  if  they  will,  do  as  much  in  the 
work  wTe  are  speaking  of  as  any  agency  in  the  State,  if 
not  more. 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  give  an  outline  of  the  methods  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Binghamton,  N.  Y.  How  it 
went  into  partnership  with  the  Lackawanna  Railroad  and 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington  and  estab¬ 
lished  a  Bureau  of  Agriculture  for  the  four  counties  lying 
within  twenty-five  miles  of  Binghamton.  How  it  was  the 
moving  spirit  of  a  soil  and  farm  survey,  by  which  accurate 
information  was  obtained  of  the  strength  and  need  of  the 
soils,  the  annual  output  and  consumption  of  the  farmers, 
of  the  methods  which  were  successful  and  unsuccessful; 
how  the  dairy  farmer  whose  annual  profits  were  ten  dol¬ 
lars  per  cow  was  brought  in  contact  with  and  under  the 
tuition  of  the  dairy  farmer  whose  annual  profits  were  one 
hundred  dollars  per  cow,  and  how  the  30  bushel  per  acre 
potato  farm  became  a  150  bushel  per  acre  farm;  how 
cheap  freight  rates  were  authorized  by  the  Railroad  Com¬ 
mission  on  lime  and  fertilizers  and  these  were  brought 
directly  from  the  kilns  and  factories  and  furnished  farmers 
at  first  cost  plus  this  reduced  freight.  How  banks  and 
business  men  furnished  means  without  interest  as  an  in¬ 
ducement  for  farmers  to  try  out  new  plans  advocated  by 
the  Government  Agent  of  science.  How  by  these  and 
other  means  this  Chamber  of  Commerce  reclaimed  from 
a  condition  of  neglect  and  abandonment  the  territory  of 
four  counties  about  Binghamton. 

The  Commercial  Club  of  the  city  of  Tyler  has  done  a 
great  work  for  Smith  County,  but  I  have  not  time  to 
enumerate  it. 

The  commercial  organizations  of  Texas  are  not  worth 
support  if  they  confine  their  activities  to  the  limits  of  the 
city.  The  agricultural  territory  about  the  city  offers 
bigger  returns  for  attentions  of  the  right  kind  than  do  in- 
.  vestments  in  any  other  direction. 


♦ 


19 


♦ 

♦ 


♦ 

4 

t 

t 

t 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

t 

4 

4 


4 


Every  local  commercial  organization  should  take  an  in¬ 
ventory,  or  make  a  survey,  of  the  territory  surrounding 
at  least  co-extensive  with  the  county  limits.  How  many 
farms  are  operated  by  owners,  how  many  by  tenants,  how 
many  farmers  produce  a  surplus,  where  do  they  live,  what 
are  their  methods,  what  do  they  produce,  what  does  it 
cost  to  produce  corn,  hay,  cotton,  butter,  hogs,  poultry, 
etc.,  in  the  county?  What  are  the  people  of  the  county 
spending  for  corn,  hay,  meat,  etc.,  grown  outside  the 
county?  This  knowledge  is  the  basis  of  a  business-like 
solution,  and  commercial  organizations  are  composed  of 
business  men. 

Such  surveys  will  surprise  many  people  when  they  see 
that  farmers  in  some  sections  are  not  self-sustaining,  and 
that  the  farmers  are  paying  80c  to  $1.00  per  bushel  for 
corn  which  can  be  raised  for  less  than  half,  and  15c  to  25c 
per  pound  for  bacon  which  they  can  produce  at  a  third  of 
such  cost.  Find  out  the  leaks  and  wastes  and  set  about 
correcting  them,  just  like  a  business  man  will  do  in  his 
business. 


WHAT  HEALTH  OFFICERS  CAN  DO. 

I  have  enumerated  the  State,  County  and  City  Health 
Officers,  as  an  agency,  because  these  officials  have  the 
attention  and  confidence  of  the  people  and  can,  if  they 
will  persist,  enlighten  all  our  people  upon  the  question  of 
home  and  school  sanitation,  the  value  of  it,  and  make 
plain  the  enormous  waste  resulting  from  unsanitary  con¬ 
ditions. 


THE  COUNTRY  CLERGY. 

I  have  included  the  country  clergy  as  an  agency  of 
much  potentiality  because  the  country  life  movement  is 
religious  as  well  as  industrial  and  social. 

There  should  be  a  social  and  an  industrial  survey  of 
every  community.  The  pastor,  the  school  teacher  and  the 
church  and  school  officials  are  they  who  should  make 
such  survey.  How  many  families  in  the  community,  how 
many  are  members  of  the  church,  how  many  members  co¬ 
operate  and  can  be  counted  on  to  stand  for  progress  and 
growth  in  the  community — who  are  they — what  is  the  re¬ 
ligious  and  educational  status  of  all  the  members  of  the 
community?  How  many  children  attend  school  regu¬ 
larly?  What  children  do  not?  Why? 

How  many  farmers  are  self-sustaining?  For  a  farmer 
to  be  self-sustaining  he  must  produce  about  twice  as  much 


4 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

4 


* 

♦ 

f 

l 

t 

♦ 

t 

♦ 

4 


4 

4 

4 

t 

4 

4 

4 


20 


T 


t 

♦ 

t 

t 

m 

i 

$ 

t 

♦ 


t 

t 

* 

f 

♦ 

f 

} 

* 


f 

f 

f 

f 

f 

f 

* 


f 

f 

f 

f 

f 


as  he  consumes,  and  to  be  a  good  farmer  he  must  produce 
three  times  as  much  as  he  consumes. 

I  read  an  account  of  a  community  survey  recently  up  in 
Missouri.  It  showed  the  families  spent  annually  an  aver¬ 
age  of  $771.50  on  themselves,  $12.00  on  schools,  $6.00  on 
roads  and  $3.00  on  their  churches.  Another  discovery 
was  made  by  a  farm  survey  in  a  community  of  New 
Hampshire.  The  average  net  annual  income  of  154  farm¬ 
ers  who  had  a  common  school  education  was  $229.00, 
while  the  average  net  income  of  the  112  farmers  of  the 
same  locality  who  had  a  high  school  education  was 
$482.00  annually.  The  high  school  education  was  worth 
to  each  farmer  who  possessed  it,  $253.00  a  year. 

A  thorough  community  survey  will  reveal  conditions, 
show  up  the  weak  spots  and  open  the  way  to  correct 
things. 

PASTORS  AS  BUSINESS  AND  COMMUNITY 

LEADERS. 

Dr.  Carver  said:  “There  are  three  classes  of  farmers 
who  are  satisfactory,  satisfied  and  continually  successful. 
They  are  the  Mormons,  the  Scotch  Presbyerians  and  the 
Pennsylvania  Germans,  who  are  thrifty,  who  are  organ¬ 
ized,  who  are  economical  and  they  are  making  good.” 

Dr.  Wilson  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  the 
Mormons,  Scotch  Presbyterians  and  Pennsylvania  Dutch 
farmers  are  led  by  their  clergy  in  church,  social  and  busi¬ 
ness  affairs,  and  that  these  are  the  most  successful  farmers 
of  America.  “They  are  on  their  farms,”  says  Dr.  Wilson, 
“from  generation  to  generation;  they  stay  there  and  they 
don’t  like  the  city.  They  idolize  the  country  and  they  like 
the  farm.  They  cry  it  out  on  the  streets  and  they  preach 
it  in  their  churches;  farming  is  their  work  and  their 
watchword.  In  a  Mormon  church  a  brother  will  rise  to 
give  a  deliverance,  and  when  he  gets  up  to  talk  he  will 
announce  a  cooperative  system.  He  may  speak  of  a  co¬ 
operative  method  or  the  best  fertilizer,  or  about  the  best 
market  for  selling  fruit,  and  he  makes  it  clear  that  the 
community  is  held  together  by  cooperation  along  these 
lines.”  “With  these  three  orders,  the  Mormons,  the  Scotch 
Presbyterians  and  the  Pennsylvania  Dutch,”  continued 
Dr.  Wilson,  “their  farming  and  their  churches  are  the 
backbone  of  country  life.” 

If  the  preacher  would  bring  men  into  sympathy  with 
God  he  must  first  get  in  touch  with  the  daily  life  and 
problems  of  these  men.  In  teaching  cooperation  in 
road,  school,  community  building,  and  in  marketing  crops 


21 


♦ 


t 

f 


♦ 


f 

* 


i 

»* 


he  is  preparing  men  to  love  one  another  and  to  adopt 
that  broad  brotherhood  which  is  evidently  to  become  the 
greatest  strength  of  Christian  forces  in  this  world. 

“The  efficient  country  church,”  says  Dr.  Fiske,  “will 
definitely  serve  its  community  by  leading,  when  possible, 
in  uniting  the  people  in  all  cooperative  endeavors  for  the 
general  welfare,  in  arousing  a  real  love  for  country  life 
and  loyalty  to  the  country  home.”  The  same  author  also 
adds:  “It  will  endeavor  to  raise  the  level  of  practical 
efficiency  on  every  farm,  making  men  really  better  farm¬ 
ers  because  they  are  real  Christians.”  . 

The  country  minister  must  somehow  get  a  vision  of  his 
great  task  as  a  community  builder,  says  Dr.  Fiske. 

Johann  Friedrich  Oberlin  refused  calls  to  pulpits  in  the 
city  and  spent  thirty  years  amongst  the  poor  villagers  of 
the  Vosges  Mountains,  preaching,  building  roads,  schools 
and  teaching  agriculture  as  a  science  and  a  business,  filling 
the  life  of  these  poor  people  with  the  blessings  of  civiliza¬ 
tion  and  his  own  with  rich  and  fruitful  service  and  making 
glorious  both  his  name  and  reward.  Men,  whether  re¬ 
ligious  or  not,  should  support  the  country  church,  because 
it  is  an  essential  power  in  every  community,  it  can  be 
made  of  great  service  to  the  community. 

THE  PRESS. 

The  press  of  the  State  is  the  active  hand-maid  and 
mouth-piece  of  all  who  are  working  for  better  farm  life 
in  Texas.  The  press  of  Texas  is  loyal,  patriotic,  pro¬ 
gressive  and  full  of  vision  of  and  optimism  for  a  richer, 
riper  and  greater  civilization  of  the  future. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  men  of  earth  were  once  collectively  engaged  in 
trying  to  build  a  tower  to  the  sky..  They  were  wasting 
their  strength  and  energies  in  a  useless  undertaking  and 
the  Lord  confused  their  tongues  so  that  they  could  no 
longer  cooperate.  Since  the  failure  of  that  collective  en¬ 
terprise,  by  a  kind  of  atavism,  there  are  people  who  doubt 
the  success  of  every  cooperative  undertaking.  These  will 
be  slow  to  join  in  our  great  work.  Then  there  are  others 
whose  understanding  of  the  motives  of  their  fellow-kind 
is  even  more  confused  than  were  ever  the  tongues  of  the 
tower  builders.  The  luxury  of  self-pity  has  become  a 
habit  with  them  and  they  refuse  to  join  others  in  move¬ 
ments  making  for  better  conditions,  fearing  they  will  be 
led  into  some  kind  of  ambush  by  the  leaders,  delivered 


bodily  to  the  “negro  in  the  wood-pile,”  and  made  to  turn 
the  stone  to  grind  the  other  fellow’s  ax. 

To  both  these  classes  let  me  give  assurance  that  our 
undertaking  is  not  to  build  to  the  sky,  but  to  the  ground, 
upon  the  ground  and  in  the  soil;  that  it  is  both  feasible! 
and  useful,  helping  all  mankind;  and  that  God  is  with 
and  not  against  us,  for  we  are  engaged  in  His  cause — the 
uplift  of  humanity.  And  to  the  latter  let  me  say,  if  they 
will  employ  the  rule  for  judging  the  motives  of  men  given 
by  Him  who  knew  best  human  arts  of  deceit,  they  need 
not  be  deceived  by  either  the  men  and  women  engaged  in 
the  Farm  Life  movement,  or  by  themselves: 

“Ye  shall  know  them  by  their  fruits.  Do  men 
gather  grapes  of  thorns  or  figs  of  thistles?  Even 
so  every  good  tree  bringeth  forth  good  fruit;  but 
a  corrupt  tree  bringeth  forth  evil  fruit.” 

For  the  cause  we  represent  rather  than  for  ourselves, 
I  invoke  that  test  in  judging  of  the  motives  of  the  noble 
men  and  women  of  this  State  who  are  uniting  their 
energies  with  mine  in  efforts  to  bring  to  Texas  and  all 
the  people  of  Texas,  equality  of  opportunity,  the  advan¬ 
tages  of  education,  civilization,  social  advance  and  moral 
uplift. 


FORM  26* 


*  I  *  ' 


